


Into Night

by closetcellist, QueenSabriel



Series: Remembrancer AU [2]
Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: AU, Alternate Canon, F/F, F/M, M/M, fic of epic proportions, mega fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-09 01:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3230402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/closetcellist/pseuds/closetcellist, https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSabriel/pseuds/QueenSabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lirael and Imshi leave the Glacier to investigate a recent vision, while Prince Sameth heads south to save his good, but unfortunately naive "friend." Little did they know they would encounter an evil of terrible proportions. Covers the AU version of the events in <i>Lirael</i> and <i>Abhorsen</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into Night

It was a late spring evening in Belisaere, following a long and generally unpleasant winter. Neither Touchstone nor Sabriel had been home following Sam and Ellimere’s return from school, and all three children were feeling the lack of their parent's presence.

Terciel snuck away from his nanny that evening, wandering off in search of his brother, knowing that Ellimere would be busy. Sam was in his workroom, as he usually was when there was nothing else his sister had forced on him that day, tinkering with something else he thought his mother might be able to use—a Charter spelled clockwork frog that he hoped would keep her mosquito free when she had to travel in less than stellar landscapes.

Being a toddler, and possessing a toddler's sense of 'I go anywhere I want,' Terciel slipped into the workroom and ran over to wrap his arms around his brother's waist, a bit awkwardly due to the height of the stool where Sam was perched.

Sam sighed as he felt the arms, not really surprised in the least. "Hey brat," he said, the familiar mix of fondness and frustration filling him. He put the frog aside, moving the delicate pieces out of a five-year-old's reach before bending down to lift his brother onto his lap. "Aren't you supposed to have a nanny or something?"

Terciel shrugged, sitting in Sam's lap and peering curiously at the workbench, though he didn't reach for anything. He looked back at his brother. "I miss Mumma."

"Don't we all," Sam said with feeling. "But you know she's important and she's out doing important things and keeping everyone safe."

"Daddy too?" he asked, his little brow furrowed.

"He's doing different important things," Sam sighed. "Keeping people safe in a different way." He bounced Terciel on his knees a few times. "You're stuck with the rest of us."

Terciel smiled, then looked up in surprise at the sound of trumpets from somewhere outside. "They're back!" he squealed loudly.

As Terciel became too wiggly to hold, Sam picked him up and plopped him back on his feet. "I knew you liked them better," he grumbled, only half-jokingly. "Go say hi, I'm sure they missed you too."

Terciel grabbed Sam's hand. "Saaam..."

"You're so needy," Sam complained, as if he wasn't, though he stood and let Terciel lead him out and down toward where their parents were likely to be.

They found Touchstone in the family solar, and Terciel let out another delighted shriek, charging over to his father and holding his arms up. "Daddy!"

Touchstone grinned, crouching to catch Terciel as he ran forward, lifting him up high before bringing him back to hold him on his hip. "How's my little bug been?" he asked.

"Missed you," Terciel said, hugging him close. "Mummy here too?"

Ellimere breezed in a moment later, moving to stand beside Sam and look amused. "Well, it’s obvious who Dad's favorite is," she said, completely teasing.

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "It's just because he's cute."

Touchstone's grin fell a little at Terciel’s question, though he tried not to worry their youngest. "She's resting," he said. "She got a little scrape on her adventure but she'll be all right. I'm sure she'll want to see you later."

"I want to see her now," Terciel said in a serious tone, frowning.

Ellimere stepped forward to kiss Touchstone on the cheek. She lightly touched Terciel's back. "Terci..."

"She's not going to be very fun right now, bug," Touchstone said. "Hello, Elli," he said, bending to return the kiss to the top of her head. "How have things been while we were away?"

"Hectic," Ellimere said. "But we've managed. Not that this one has been much help," she shot a look at Sam, "He's spent most of his time moping about missing Nicholas and hiding in his tower."

"I have not been moping or hiding," Sam said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "I have been inventing and if you actually had any friends, you might also understand missing them."

Ellimere raised her eyebrows. "I have plenty of friends. You just seem to have the one and you can't survive without him."

Sam stuck out his tongue at her, maturely.

Touchstone chuckled. "It's good to see you've all been getting along."

"Want Mumma," Terciel insisted again, starting to sound dangerously cranky.

"I'm sorry, bug, but she's in the Reservoir right now. You know I don't want you down there," Touchstone said. Terciel's lip trembled and he buried his face in Touchstone's shoulder.

Ellimere leaned over, giving Sam's face a push. "Idiot." She looked at Touchstone. "Is Mother all right?"

Touchstone patted Terciel lightly on the back. "Now, now, you're a big boy, you'll be all right," he said gently before turning to Ellimere. "She will be," he said, tempering his words to make sure Terciel didn't get any more upset. "She just needed a little help from the Charter stones down there."

"No, I'm not!" Terciel protested, tears now rolling down his cheeks. He scrubbed one still slightly pudgy hand over his face, but continued sniffling.

"I think it's someone's bedtime," Ellimere said, though that did absolutely nothing to make the situation better.

"Shh," Touchstone gently hushed Terciel. "Why don't I take you to your room and read you a story? Mummy will come see you as soon as she can, all right?"

Terciel nodded, still sniffling and clinging tighter to him. "’kay."

"I'll talk to you two in a moment," Touchstone said to Sam and Ellimere, turning to take Terciel to his room so he didn't explode again.

Ellimere gave Sam a look. "I'm worried now," she breathed, once Touchstone and Terciel had left.

"If she was really in trouble I don't think he would have lied to Terci about it," Sam said, though he sounded somewhat doubtful.

"Really." Ellimere gave him a pointed look. "Maybe not if she was like, dying or something like that..."

"Well you know he's not going to put up with waiting forever to see her," Sam pointed out. "He'll throw a fit. She's got to be well enough to see him."

Ellimere let out a soft laugh. "You know Mother, she'll be upset if she isn't well enough to see her baby."

"Yeah, if I didn't have to see him all the time I might feel the same I guess," Sam said.

"Maybe once Dad’s got Terci down for the night we'll be able to go see Mother...." Ellimere said, casting a glance towards the door that led down to the reservoir.

"Probably," Sam said, taking a seat somewhere. "He said he just didn't want Terci going down there. He's afraid he'll flop out of the boat and drown or something."

"Terci has got to be the most sheltered Abhorsen-in-waiting ever," Ellimere said, rolling her eyes.

"Probably because he's their baby," Sam said. "If you were going to be the Abhorsen-in-waiting they certainly wouldn't be acting like this."

"Or if you were," Ellimere said. She fidgeted. "Perhaps we should just go down there? I'm not sure how long Dad's going to be."

"He said he wanted to talk to us about something, didn't he?" Sam asked. "Though unless it was to warn us that Mum's lost her whole arm I guess he could do it just as well down there."

"I think if she was that badly off Dad wouldn't be so calm about it," Ellimere reasoned, though she didn't sound sure of herself. "Though he has gotten better..." She sighed, then turned to the passage. "Let’s just go."

Sam shrugged, getting to his feet to follow her. "I don’t think he'd have called that a 'scratch,' Sam commented.

They headed down to the reservoir and got onto the raft that was waiting. Ellimere said that once they got to Sabriel's raft, they could send this one back for their father. The reservoir was still and silent as they glided over the water to the great stones at the center.

For a few moments, they couldn't see anything of Sabriel, the light always rather dim and murky down there. As they pulled up next to the other raft, he realized the shadowy lump he thought might have been a trick of the lighting was probably Sabriel. "Mum?" he asked quietly, as their rafts lightly bumped.

Sabriel sat up with a faint groan, sending a Charter light flaring into life above them. "Sam...Elli..." she said with a weak smile.

Sam looked decidedly more worried at that point. "What happened?" he asked. "Dad didn't really tell us anything, because Terci was cranky about not seeing you immediately. He's putting him to bed right now."

"Oh," Sabriel sat up, wincing a little. "It's...I got bit in the leg by a Dead thing, I couldn't see to it immediately and it went bad..."

"It's not going to fall off, is it?" Sam asked with some small panic. He didn't mean to be insensitive if it was, but he was aware of the danger of festering wounds.

"No," Sabriel said, breathing in through her nose and making a face. "Though at the moment I sort of wish it would."

"Can we help at all?" Sam asked. He was good at Charter magic, even if he was better at creation spells than healing ones.

Sabriel began to shake her head, but Ellimere waved her hand. "Nonsense, Mother. You know Terciel's going to be inconsolable if you don't make it up to say goodnight..." Despite Sabriel's skeptical expression, Ellimere moved the cloak aside, grimacing as she saw the injury. "Oh for Charter's sake..."

Sam made a face as well. ”Are you sure it's not going to fall off?" he asked, even as he moved to a better position to add another healing Charter, or maybe a cleansing one.

"Certainly not with you two around," Sabriel said, though she sounded audibly relieved as their spells added strength to the ones she had attempted earlier.

"Do you at least get to rest for a while?" Sam asked.

Sabriel nodded. "I did," she murmured, then straightened a little. "Oh, I think I hear your father coming..."

Sam climbed gently onto Sabriel's raft, letting Ellimere take the other back to their father so he could join them.

Sabriel took the opportunity to wrap an arm around Sam. "Have you been doing all right?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he said, inordinately pleased she'd asked. "I've been working on something for you, but it's not ready yet."

Sabriel beamed and kissed his temple. "I'm excited to see it when it's finished."

"I hope it will be helpful," he said, watching the other two slowly gliding over.

"I hope Terciel wasn't too fussy?" Sabriel said, peering at her husband with obvious concern.

"A bit," Touchstone said. "He'll be better when you are."

"I'll go up to see him later," she said. Affectionately rubbing Sam's arm she added, "Our elder children were quite determined to help."

"We're good children," Sam said, nodding. "Better than Terciel, probably."

Touchstone gave him a look.

"Sam." Sabriel rolled her eyes. "I hope you've been nicer than that to your little brother."

"I let him in my workroom," Sam protested. "What more do you want from me?"

She shook her head and kissed his forehead in response, then let out a soft sigh. "How have things been otherwise?"

"As I told father, hectic," said Ellimere. "Everyone seems tense."

"Is something going on that we should know about?" Sam asked. "It seems like you both have been gone more than normal, but it might be my imagination."

"Something is happening," Sabriel admitted, exchanging a wary look with Touchstone. "We're not entirely sure what, though. It's been happening since Terciel was born, since the battle at Roble's Town." She bit her lip. "Charter stones are being broken again. The Clayr haven't been able to see anything around the Red Lake....Free Magic has been on the rise again..."

Sam frowned, remembering the letter Nick had sent him about coming to visit. "Do you know who's behind it?" he asked, though if this had been progressing for five years that seemed a bit doubtful.

"There's the necromancer woman, Chlorr of the Mask," Sabriel said. "She can't be working on her own, though. It's too big."

That was even worse news if Nick was going to be wandering around. "Can you find her?" Sam asked, though he wasn't sure there was anything they could do. He was already formulating plans to catch Nick at the border somehow, though now he couldn't remember when he'd said he was coming.

Sabriel shrugged. "Time will tell, to be honest." She ran her fingers through her hair. "And then there's this whole mess with Corolini in Ancelstierre....taking into account what happened to you, Sam, I can't help but think he's involved somehow as well...possibly as a diversion tactic for us."

"I can't believe them," Sam sighed. "It's just ridiculous that he's got so many supporters. I don't understand politics at all."

"You're better off that way," Ellimere said. She caught the grim look in Sabriel's eyes. "Mother?"

"This push to have refugees moved into our kingdom," Sabriel said slowly. "I'm worried that they are being brought here because of the necromancer. It...it would mean thousands of the Dead all at once,..."

"Easy to access and control," Touchstone added, nodding solemnly. "And in those numbers, more than difficult to deal with."

"I wish they would just believe us about the dead and magic," Sam grumbled, thinking about Ancelstierre as a whole and Nick in particular.

Sabriel let out a shaky breath, nodding. "Charter, I wish Terciel was old enough to help me," she murmured. "Not that even two Abhorsen's would stand much a chance against an army of the Dead that large."

"We'll just have to make sure they don't die in the first place," Sam said, as optimistically as possible.

Sabriel nodded, still looking concerned. She leaned over to check on her leg. "I think I'm good enough to get back upstairs..."

"If you're sure," Sam said, though it did look much better now, the proximity to the Stones having strengthened their combined spells considerably.

"If I'm not I'll just make your father carry me," Sabriel said, straightening as Ellimere and Touchstone moved to the other barge, and they both started back to the landing dock.

"That will probably make Terciel jealous," Sam said.

Sabriel cast him an amused look. "It sounds to me that you're the jealous one, Sameth," she said, brushing his curly hair back from his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grumbled.

"Sam..." she said with a sigh. "I know this is difficult, it's not easy for any of us."

"I know that, Mum, of course I know that," Sam said, exasperated and unhappy. "Your leg almost fell off. I haven't complained, have I? It's not my fault Terci is so needy."

"My leg did not almost fall off," she said, pulling him into a close embrace again. "And Terciel is five years old. You were exactly the same."

"I don't remember that," Sam said, sighing though he returned the embrace, "So I'm choosing to believe it's not true."

"You're both my boys," Sabriel said, then shifted to get to her feet as they came to the dock.

Sam did his best to help her without making a big deal of it as she still seemed a little wobbly. "Well you better go see him soon or he'll probably escape his room and come looking for you."

Sabriel accepted the help gratefully and they all started back up to the palace. She kept a hand on Sam's arm, though she still visibly limped. Sam didn't mention it, helping her the rest of the way up the stairs. He paused awkwardly then, not knowing if she needed help to Terciel's room as well.

Sabriel kissed his forehead. "I'll see you in the morning, all right sweetheart?" She looked to Touchstone. "I'll be to bed in a bit."

Sam and Touchstone both nodded, looking varying degrees of skeptical about her ability to walk on her own. They headed their separate ways, Touchstone to bed and Sam back to his workroom to take another look at what was left of Nick's letter. Sabriel slipped into Terciel's room, stretching out on the bed with him and pull his tiny form into her arms to kiss the top of his head.

Terciel, almost asleep, blinked sleepily at her. "Mumma?" he asked with a yawn, curling a hand into her shirt.

"I'm here, baby boy," Sabriel breathed. After resting for a moment she moved to get back up, lifting Terciel with some difficulty, but carrying him with her as she headed to her and Touchstone's room. Terciel dozed against her as she carried him, content to be near her regardless of where they were going. Touchstone looked only slightly surprised when she showed up with a small child.

Sabriel was biting her lip as she shifted to sit on the bed, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. She managed a weak smile at Touchstone. "I couldn't leave him."

Touchstone reached out to take him from her, at least until she could get reasonably comfortable. "I forgot how hard it is to keep leaving when they're young," he said quietly.

Sabriel settled onto the bed and held out her arms again. "It's hard to keep leaving even when they're older." She sighed heavily. "I don't know what to do. I'm one person and there is so much happening..."

Touchstone passed a decidedly more content Terciel back. "I keep hoping the Clayr will see something that will help us fight the cause instead of just the symptoms," he said quietly.

"Someone is blocking them intentionally," she murmured, rubbing Terciel's back. "Which only makes me more worried that it is someone powerful."

Touchstone sighed. “I suppose we'll just have to keep going," he said. "And keep the Southerling refugees out as long as possible. That might at least delay Chlorr or whoever's plans."

Sabriel gazed at him. "One of us has to go to Ancelstierre at least."

"I know," Touchstone said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It should be me. I'm bracing myself."

Sabriel kissed his cheek. "I should be able to meet up with you."

"That would certainly make it more bearable," Touchstone said, snuggling up to her and Terciel.

Sabriel let out a pained breath, rubbing Terciel's back as she settled against Touchstone.

"Do you want something for the pain?" Touchstone asked quietly.

Eyes watering, she nodded, rocking Terciel as he woke up and looked at them with a small frown. Touchstone slipped out of bed, crossing over to a dresser that had an impressive array of Old Kingdom pharmaceuticals on top of it. He mixed a powdered pain medicine with some water, and brought it back to Sabriel, who drank the bitter liquid and let out a content sound as the medicine started to kick in. She sank back into the pillows, eyes drooping. "Should get some sleep..."

"We all should, I think," Touchstone said, giving Terciel a fond but tired look as he climbed back into bed.

Sabriel had drifted off by the time he settled in, Terciel fast asleep against her chest. Touchstone managed to get some sleep as well, though they were up again far too early in his opinion the next morning.

"Oh, baby boy why can't you sleep like your brother," Sabriel grumbled when she woke to find a very excited five-year-old bouncing around between her and Touchstone.

"He probably gets fed too much," Touchstone groaned, reaching out toward Terciel without opening his eyes, hoping to somehow calm him. "Or not enough."

"Daddy!" Terciel flopped down onto the mattress. "Time t' getup!"

"I think you're wrong, bug," Touchstone sighed, putting an arm around Terciel and holding him close, but also holding him still. "Daddy says it's still time to sleep."

"Mumma's awake," he whispered conspiratorially, peering over at Sabriel, who was watching them with an amused look.

"Probably because you woke her," Touchstone said, tickling him.

He giggled madly and curled up in a little ball. Sabriel chuckled softly, then bit her lip. "Terci, why don't you go get your brother and sister, and tell them to have the maid bring some breakfast up here for all of us..."

Terciel nodded, eagerly springing off the bed and running to attend to his task.

"While he's gone, I'm going to sleep for five more minutes," Touchstone said. "Unless you need something," he added, looking up at her.

Sabriel rolled over to lay against his chest, kissing him soundly. "Just that," she said, smiling.

"Mmm, good, that I can do," Touchstone said, holding her close.

***

Sam had stayed up later than he should have, after figuring out that Nick was likely already on his way and probably out of touch. He'd spent a good part of the night worrying and trying to think of how he could reach him, before finally drifting off.

After waking Ellimere and making sure she knew to go locate breakfast, Terciel bounded into Sam's room and clambered up on the bed. Sam groaned as he woke to his bed dipping and familiar small hands on him. "No," he grumbled, resolutely not opening his eyes.

"Mumma said," Terciel said, though he snuggled in next to his brother. "Breakfast, Sam."

"Breakfast is for losers who don't like sleep," Sam said, sighing, though he finally opened his eyes to look at Terciel.

"But Mumma said!" Terciel insisted with a smile.

"Because you listen so well, don't you, brat," Sam said, sitting up and ruffling Terciel's hair.

"You're a brat," Terciel said, sticking his tongue out.

"No, I'm pretty sure you are," Sam said as he got dressed. "I think that tongue sticking out of your mouth proves it."

"Nu-uh," Terciel argued, but happily hopped off the bed and grabbed Sam's hand.

"You're like a little leech," Sam complained, though he didn't pull his hand away, gently holding Terciel's as they headed to their parents' room.

"You're mean," Terciel said, giving Sam's hand a chastising tug.

"I'm supposed to be mean, I'm your older brother. That's what they do," Sam said.

They found Ellimere and the food had already arrived at Sabriel and Touchstone's room when they slipped in, and Terciel scrambled over to climb up between his parents.

"That was faster than I thought," Touchstone said, chuckling as he glanced at Sam, who still looked a bit sleepy. Sam rolled his eyes like the surly teenager he was.

Sabriel had a cup of coffee in one hand, and held the other out to Sam, chuckling. "Come here love."

Sam took it, sitting next to her with a small sigh. "I don't know why the rest of you live in such an early world."

"Because we have a five year old," Sabriel said, sipping at her coffee. "This helps."

"I don't think I did this when I was five either," Sam said. "I think I always appreciated the sanctity of sleep."

Sabriel laughed at that, shaking her head. "Oh honey, you go on thinking that." She glanced over at Touchstone, who was busy playing with Terciel and pretending he was facilitating breakfast. "I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this until your father and I have to rush off again," she said softly.

"Is that happening soon?" Sam asked, already resigning himself to the answer.

Sabriel gave him a look and nodded. "Chances are. You know how it goes, as soon as we get comfortable..."

"Yeah, I know," Sam said quietly. "My present probably won't be ready by then either."

"Then I'll have something to look forward to when I come back," Sabriel said, kissing his forehead, then looking down in amusement as Terciel climbed into her lap.

Sam tried not to make a face as Terciel blatantly stole his mother's attention away from him with his greedy five-year-old self, because he wasn't also five and that seemed like an immature thing to do. Terciel snuggled against Sabriel's chest, sticking his thumb in his mouth as he blinked innocently at Sam, who simply sighed, crossing his arms to make it known that his feelings weren't going away any time soon.

Ellimere rolled her eyes. "Sam, I dare you to look more upset," she said, then beamed and leaned against Touchstone. "I'm glad I don't have to compete for affection."

Touchstone put an arm around his daughter smiling. "None of you have to compete for our affection," he said.  
Sam just rolled his eyes.

"What did I say about enjoying this while we can...?" Sabriel said.

"This is me enjoying it," Sam said. "You don't know how I am when you're not here, because you're not here."

"Okay," she said, pursing her lips and moving to refill her coffee cup.

Sabriel's moving displaced Terciel, who snuggled up to Sam for the moment. "You would think no one ever paid attention to you," Sam said, looking at him.

"Sameth," Ellimere said. "Why are you being so horrid this morning?"

"I'm always like this," Sam said, letting Terciel climb into his lap. "Terci hardly cares, do you?"

"I'm not talking about Terci," Ellimere muttered.

Terciel peered up at Sam with a smile. "Then what are you talking about?" Sam asked, genuinely confused.

Ellimere gave him a pointed look, then huffed and shook her head. "Never mind."

"What?" Sam asked again. "I don't speak facial expression."

"Assuming I've recovered enough by then, your father and I will probably be leaving this afternoon," Sabriel said, sounding not nearly as content as she had a few minutes ago.

"What?" Sam asked for the third time, startled. "But you said—...okay," he ended with a sigh.

"Well you're clearly already upset with me," she said a bit grumpily. "I'm not sure postponing my departure will help that."

Sam looked down, because if there was a more blatant way to say 'we're not around because of you' other than those exact words, he didn't know what it was. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean any of it."

"Now you're both just being ridiculous," Ellimere said, rolling her eyes. "Mother I know you're in pain but Sam wasn't being _that_ bad..."

"We're not leaving because of any of you," Touchstone said, which didn't actually reassure Sam at all. "Things are just very difficult right now, and the sooner we can track down the cause, the sooner we can fix it."

Sabriel pinched the bridge of her nose, then reached for her older son's hand. "Of course it's not because of you, I didn't mean that."

"Yeah, I know," Sam said quietly, though he didn't really feel like that was true.

Sabriel looked at him sadly. "Please Sam, I'm sorry," she said softly.

"You don't have to be sorry," Sam said. "You're really important and you have to protect everyone."

"I know," she said, looking around at them with a soft sigh. She was unable to shake the feeling that things were about to get much worse...


End file.
